Dr. Richard Smith with his 8,000th deliver, baby boy Austin Brian Jones.
Married couple Lauren Hood and Andrew Jones of Detroit had their first baby Monday afternoon, but the little one was just one of many for the doctor who delivered him.
The Detroit Free Press reports that the couple’s baby boy, Austin Brian Jones, was Dr. Richard Smith8,000th delivery.
Brenda Hood (left) sits next to her daughter, Lauren Hood, and her husband, Andrew Jones, after Dr. Richard Smith delivers her son. It was his 8,000 delivery. Dr. Smith delivered Lauren 24 years ago.
“Maybe I’ll shoot for 10,000,” Smith said while visiting his patients’ bedside Wednesday, according to the Free Press. “Because it is one of the best things you can do to help new life come into the world and work with these wonderful families.”
Twenty-four years ago, Dr. Smith delivered the boy’s mother. Hood said the nurses teased her as they prepped her for delivery. “They were like, ‘It’s baby 8,000th. Do you know what your number was?’ ” Hood said. “I have no clue.”
What she was sure of was who to call when it was time to deliver her child. “I thought how amazing if the guy who delivered me, delivered my child,” said Hood, who just finished a stint as a third-grade teacher in Patterson, N.J., in the Teach for America program.
Hood’s mother, Brenda Hood, said she was grateful that Smith was her doctor. “When I was having Lauren, I had complications,” she said. “Just the care he gave, I knew I was in good hands, so I wanted to ensure that my child was, too.”
Dr. Smith, 61, graduated from Howard University Medical School at 23-years-old. He began his career at a now-closed hospital, where women in labor were dropped off in taxis at the loading dock. Although Hood and her husband will move to Chicago in a few weeks, the new mother knows who she wants to deliver her next child.
“Of course, Dr. Smith can deliver my next child,” said Hood. She wants a girl next time.
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